1. Today (not tomorrow) is the first meeting of the Civil
Liberties committee of the newly elected EP. I do not
understand that ECHELON (ie, my and the other STOA
reports) are on the agenda. However, I am told that the new
chair of the committee intended to raise it anyway and to
have the matter considered at an early future date.

2. I have just visited Denmark to discuss ECHELON with
MPs, trade unionists and journalists. The purpose of my visit
was to advise about ECHELON and the EP situation.
However, I discovered that far from ceasing to conduct
SIGINT with NSA co-operation after the end of the cold war,
the Danish SIGINT service (FCR/FE) has modernised and
expanded its main station, a short bike ride south of
Copenhagen airport.

This could mean that Denmark, a known "third party" to the
UKUSA agreement, could be participating in some way in the
automated intercept processing network we know as
ECHELON. Or, it may support some other links with NSA
and UKUSA. My visit showed that, since about 1990, the
main Danish station had been equipped with new buildings
and equipment, including 2 satellite terminals and a British
GCHQ interception system called PUSHER. In some ways,
the Danish station resembles the New Zealand station at
Waihopai, which is where the recent row began.

I have just been told that this has led to an interesting
dispute between the Prime Minister and his wife, who is an
MEP in a different party. She has apparently made a public
statement that the Denmark military must come clean about
links to NSA.

In any event, the Minister of Defence was and is scheduled to
face questions on Friday from the European Committee of
the Folketing (Parliament). I understand that the story has
been major news yesterday and today, and that this may
continue.